After the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 17-14 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday, Mitch Trubisky alluded to an argument in the locker room over playcalling.
“But when everyone’s like, ‘name the game, name the game it,’ it makes it difficult for everyone to do their jobs. I think everyone just has to do their job and we’ll just keep growing and going in the right direction together,” Trubisky said in his post-game press conference via the team’s YouTube.
Today, center Mason Cole was asked about the group’s struggles and attributed it to everyone being competitive.
“We are all competitors here. Everyone wants the ball, everyone wants a touchdown. That’s always the case with this game. And in competitive moments, it always will be. You have to like that from the boys. Boys want the ball, boys want to make plays and that’s what playmakers are for,” said Cole via Steelers Live.
Pittsburgh have a lot of mouths to feed on offense. Between Najee Harris, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, Pat Freiermuth, and even George Pickens (whose involvement has been little to nonexistent so far), there are plenty of guys on the Steelers offense who can make plays and want to play.
When the offense is struggling and these guys feel like they can’t make those plays, frustration can certainly set in. Whether it’s the offensive coordinator (which it certainly seems to be) or anyone else, it can lead to a little bit of competitive fire getting out in the group in a way that doesn’t necessarily seem effective.
Obviously like Cole said you like having guys who want to get the ball in their hands to try and make a difference. They want players who want to make plays, and the Steelers seem to have that. The problem is that the offense doesn’t click in a way that they can do this now and that will lead to frustration.
When an offense with that much talent gets two touchdowns in two games, the boys aren’t going to be happy. They can’t be blamed either as the offense is holding the Steelers back a lot at the moment and the playmakers feel they can make a positive impact on offense but they’re not being given the chance to do so.
Thursday night against Cleveland will be extremely important for this team. It’s not just a divisional matchup, it’s a chance to prove the Steelers’ offense is better than what they’ve shown in two games. And that extends to the coaching staff with playcalling in addition to execution on the field. If offense stagnates again, changes could come sooner rather than later.